Things have been unpleasantly quiet lately but if there’s one lesson that racing teaches us it’s that luck always turns.
One winner in October plus Nashville drawing the outside barrier in the Emirates plus Rising Tide doing exactly the same in Saturday’s New Zealand Cup adds up to a fair dose of ill fortune, but today’s events at Riccarton did redress the balance somewhat.
Durham Town carried 59.5 kg to win the Group 3 Stewards Handicap, James McDonald piloting the Falkirk gelding perfectly. Later in the progamme Darryl Bradley produced a similar A+ ride to guide Ishimine to a convincing victory in a R85 1400 contest, a win that was even more meritorious as the daughter of Ishiguru upset herself in the barriers for some time before the field was sent on its way. Both winners were recommended yearling purchases by Cloughmore and Durham Town’s win was sweetened some more by the reflection that some clients and I own a small share of his half-sister.
Clearly, we’re praying for rain for Rising Tide on Saturday but the draw doesn’t make his task any easier. I’ve always wanted to win one of the traditional 3200 metre contests with a horse that I’ve been involved in breeding, but as recent events have underlined the chances of this happening are reducing all the time. I’m referring, of course,to the most significant bad news story of the year – the failure of any Kiwi bred horse to even make it to the start of the Melbourne Cup. Winning that particular event has always been a dream for New Zealand owners and breeders; all of us collectively failing to produce any more that one acceptor is a bitter pill indeed.
Perhaps when we’re putting in a good word for Rising Tide (and please feel free to do so – all help is gratefully accepted),we should add a request for Roc de Cambes or Nom du Jeu or Road to Rock or any other thoroughbred stallion to prove himself a worthy successor to Zabeel.
